Safety-bridge for cars.



No. 807,231. PATENTBD DBG.12, 1905.

' H. ALSOP.

SAFETY BRIDGE FOR CARS.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 12, 1905.

IIVVENTOR HENRY ALsoP I ATTORNEYS HENRY ALSOP, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

SAFETY-BRIDGE FOR CARS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 12, 1905.

Application filed June 12, 1905- Serial NO. 264,845.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HENRYALSOP, a citizen of the United States, residingat Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented anew and useful Improvement in Safety-Bridges for Cars, of which thefollowing is a specification.

My invention relates to an improvement in safety bridges and guards forcars, more particularly stock-cars, and has for its object to provide asimple, cheap, and efficient device aforloading and unloading stock andother cars and one which can be readily applied to cars now in use aswell as to new cars.

To these ends my invention consists in certain novel features ofconstruction, arrangement, and combination of parts,as will behereinafter fully described, and pointed out in the claims, referencebeing had to the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is aperspective view showing a car with my invention applied. Fig.2 is avertical section of a side of car, showing my improvement applied. Fig.3 is a perspective view of the bridge removed. Fig. 4 is a detailperspective showing latch.

In the drawings, -1 represents the upright jambs of the door-opening ofa stock-car.

2 is the safety-bridge, which is provided with hinge-eyes 3, secured tosaid bridge at suitable points. The inner face of the bridge has securedto it or is provided with the cleats 4 and to prevent slipping of stockwhen going into or out of the car.

5 represents the ordinary door used in stockcars, which is suspended byhangers 6 from the track 7.

8 represents rods bent at their upper ends, said bent upper ends beingdriven into or through the door-jambs 11 and fastened by nuts. The lowerends of the rods 8 pass through the bottom sill of the doorway and havetheir lower ends threaded to receive a nut-9, or the said lower ends maybe headed in the same manner as a bolt.

10 is a horizontal rod having eyes 11 11 at each end, said eyes fittingaround and sliding on the rods 8 8. Said rod 10 also passes through thehinge-eyes 3 3, so that the bridge may swing on said rod 10.

12 represents latches for holding the bridge 2 in a vertical position.Said latches are made of a bar of iron or other suitable material andare substantially U:shaped. The side arms of the lat-ch pass on theinner and outer sides of the jamb 1 1, being pivotally secured to theedge'of said jambs by staples or eyes 13. The latches are prevented fromdropping too far downwardly by the stop pins or lugs 14, projecting fromfaces of thejambs. These stop pins or lugs do not project far enoughbeyond the outer face of the jambs to interfere with the free-slidingmovement of the car-door when it is desired to close the door-opening.As shown in Fig. 4, the side arms of thelatches project far enoughbeyond the inner edges of the jambs to maintain the bridge in itsvertical position.

When it is desired to load or unload the car, the latches are swungupwardly, whereupon the bridge will swing on the rod 10 until the freeend of said bridge rests on the adjacent platform orthe chute from orinto which the car is to be loaded or unloaded. The vertical rods 8 formguides by means of which the bridge may be adjusted for vary ing heightsof platforms or chutes. The safety-bridge when in its vertical positionalso forms a guard to prevent stock in the car when crowded against thesame from being pressed against the car-door and interfering with itsfree movement, as very often happens in crowded cars.

It will be seen that I provide an extremely simple and cheap device forquickly loading or unloading stock-cars, one which is always attached tothe car, and one which can be readily adjusted for varying heights ofplatforms or chutes and one which will prevent the stock from fallingbetween the car and platform. It will be further noted that my inventioncan be quickly and readily applied to old cars as well as new ones.

Having thus described my invention, what 'I claim as new, and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is

1. The combination with a car having an opening or doorway, verticalguide-rods within said opening at each side thereof, of abridge hingedat its lower end to a transverse bar, said bar having eyes at each endsliding on the Vertical guide -rods, and verticallyswinging latchessecured to the car at one side of the door-opening, said latches adaptedto be swung into the path of the bridge to secure it against outwardmovement.

2. The combination with a car having an opening or doorway, verticalguides secured within the opening at each side, of a horizontal rodmounted at its ends on said guides and adapted to slide thereon, abridge pivotally secured to said horizontal rod, and U-shaped IO securedto said horizontal rod, U-shaped latches pivotally secured adjacent tothe opening at each side thereof, the side arms of said latches adaptedto be swung into the opening to hold the bridge in its verticalposition, and

stops mounted on the car to limit the down- 5 Ward swing of the latches.

HENRY ALSOP. Witnesses:

W. B. CUNNINGHAM,

THOMAS CASEY.

